A polariscope is a widely utilized instrument in stress testing that employs polarized light to examine residual stress presence within transparent materials. Depending on its specific function, a polariscope can be categorized into two types: a strain viewer and a polarimeter. Some advanced polariscopes are capable of providing clear images and precise stress measurement data, making it an invaluable tool for ensuring material strength, integrity and performance.
It is suitable for checking transparent glassware, quartz components, optical glass, resin film, plastic sheet, lens, light guide plate, YAG, sapphire, solar glass and other materials.
When observing a sample through a polariscope, if you observe color difference between the sample and the background, it indicates stress presence within the sample. Uniform stress patterns indicates balanced stress distribution, non-uniform patterns indicate varying stress levels.
They differ in using purpose and operation methods.
Strain viewer is primarily used for visualizing stress patterns, while polarimeter provides quantitative measurements of stress retardation and glass temper number. Strain viewer relies on the visual observation of interference patterns, whereas polarimeter measures analyzer rotating angle or phase difference of polarized light.
